Mercs of Minegarde
by Katamar
Summary: Set nearly 20 years before monster hunter. Katamar, a rising explorer, stumbles upon a horrifying discovery, which helps shape the continent into the land we know today.R&R please.
1. Unsettling Discovery

Day: 5

Approximately 2 hours until sunrise

Unmapped jungle location

Katamar, official guild researcher

As I prepare to begin today's search, I bring my hunter's knife for self-defense purposes only, my cammoflauged clothing, a canteen of water, a flashbomb, and the newly created "stun-trap" that the guild wishes me to test.

I plan on heading north, in search of babakonga. The guild needs research on various foods that this creature eats, and their affects on his behavior.

End journal entry.

With that, Katamar put down his quil, grabbed his bag, and left the camp-boat that the guild was kind enough to provide for him. He traveled north along the shore, observing the various wild-life that roamed. And although most creatures he saw seemed quite capable of gutting him, they paid him little mind, and he continued. After entering a canyon like area of the beach, he spotted a small group of velociprey, and unfortunately, they spotted him. Katamar knew the best strategy for fighting velocipey... don't. For every one you slay, the hunter's would say, two more would avenge it. And katamar also knew how cowardly they could be. After enough time they would eventually becon for their leader, and nobody wants to fight a deadly velocidrome. Knowing this, Katamar ran. As he fled, he refused to look back, but he could hear their calling, and he thought he heard one of the velociprey land directly behind him, only a yard or two if he guessed right, not that he had much time for guessing at that moment. Although the chase seemed like hours for katamar, it was over in nearly five minutes, as Katamar took refuge in a nearby cave.

"You're not a coward... just smart..." mumbled Katamar to himself, "You can't take them, not with this equipment." Although Katamar was right, he knew the guild would not look kindly upon him spending their resources hiding in a cave. He gathered his courage, and what was left of his pride, and peered out of the cave. He saw nothing unusual, however he noted that a storm, compraple to a weak hurricane, had made its way to this part of the jungle. The thunderous sound of the rain rivaled that of the loudest bowgun, and katamar was convinced he'd go deaf. Using the sound of the feirsome tempest, an oversized blue killer made his way behind the unsuspecting explorer as he exited the cave.

Katamar approached the beach at a steady pace to try and find his way back to camp. As he reached the water, he looked into the ripple covered water, just at the right moment to see a brief blue flash. Confused, Katamar turned to see the largest, most horrible velocidrome he'd ever encountered, or even heard about for that matter. The creature was easily 10 feet tall, and his grin was bordered by what seemed like hundreds of saliva covered, razor-sharp teeth. The creature's evil yellow eyes lied inches below a humonguous red crest, that obviously anounced his authority to any wouldbe leaders of the pack. The hiddeous monster screeched, and katamar's muscles all froze in fright. Strangely, no reinforcements came for the creature, but to katamar, it seemed as though the beast would have no problem eating him on his own.

The velocidrome lunged for Katamar, and fortunately he regained his awareness and stumbled out of the way before the monster threw his insides into the feirce ocean tides. Now katamar was facing the blue terror, and the situation was obviously hopeless, but something inside him told Katamar not to give up, and to fight his way out of this. As he thought this, he felt his confidence soar, but for some reason, his opponent seemed more afraid. The velocidrome suddenly lost interest in the human, and began to turn around. It managed to get two steps from the make-shift hunter, when it was whisked away by a pink bolt of lighting-fast fur.

After realizing what had happened, katamar instinctively hid. If the pink monkey could take out that monster, it would make even shorter work of him. As he lay in the bushes, hiding, he observed the gorilla-like monster crush the helpless velocidrome by way of sitting on it. It then grabbed the lifeless mess of bloodied blue scales with its tail, and leaped into the cave that katamar had recently evacuated.

Katamar, remembering his purpose, followed the monster, careful not to be seen nor heard by any creature, especially the babakonga. As he entered the part of the cave that the gorilla seemed to consider home, he realized the reason he faced only one blue beast. The ground, red with blood, was covered in velociprey bodies, at least what was left of them. Katamar could not help but choke, tring to fight back his gag-reflex. The subtle sound alerted the monster, who had a large scar on his snout. The monster noticed him shortly after this. Katamar gulped, the confidence that visited him when he faced the velocidrome seemed to be to afraid to show up this time. It was not needed however, as the monster grunted, then went back to his feast. Katamar needlessly ran, even though he knew the monster that had saved his life had no intention of taking it.

"What was that back there?", Katamar thought to himself, thinking of his super-human boost of confidence. When he was facing that monster, he felt more alive than ever. It was the most dangerous thing he'd ever lived through, however, he felt himself trying not to want to do it again. Katamar returned back to his village days later, his troubled thoughts and extremely unique research carried with him.

"It eats meat?!" exclaimed the guild master.

"Not likely," said katamar, "I believe it was starving, the ecosystem has been overrun with carnivores."

The troubled guild master paced back and forth, mumbling to himself. Katamar thought he heard some curses, but he ignored the thought. "I have to do something about this, " said the master finally, "I have to get hunters to stop this before it starts."

"No offense, sir, but there are less than twenty hunters on this continent. And many of them wouldn't even consider the thought of resuming the trade, take the hero of kokoto for instance, he's a village cheif now, him and his crippled gunner pal won't help." countered katamar.

"I'm well aware of this, boy!" growled the guild master,"I'm going to extend hunting privelages to mercanaries. This will bring those who want quick cash, and after some training, we will have a force comprable to an army. No predators, wyverns or otherwise, will stop us."

"Who said anything about the wyverns, they've been considerably peaceable over the years, and you're practically opening up war!" said katamar.

"You challenge me again, and I'll have your job and your head!"snapped the master, "Now leave me, before I lose my temper."

Katamar reluctantly left, turning once to glance at the master, already telling his squire to write the notice. "what have i done?" sighed katamar, when he got home. His wife and son were already asleep, the only soul awake was his pet pig, edgar snoutnose(named by his son). Katamar didn't bother petting edgar. He slipped into his bed, without disturbing his wife, and let his troubled thoughts visit him as more vivid nightmares


	2. End of Legends

The children of hunters were often told stories before they went to bed. These strories were usualy about legendary hunters, epic fights, tragedy on the feild, and victory. One such story was that of the legendary bowgunning siblings, The Unseen Demon, and The Guardian Angel. The story told of the Angel's skill at healing her teammates, using new amunition she invented herself. Some say she made amunition to make her teammates stronger, and more enraged. One such shot was called the Demon shot, named after the title her brother had earned. The drug that was used in it (later to be used in various other serums) enraged the fighters, making them relentless and unstopable. Her brother never needed this. They would say that his rage triumphed that of a caged diablos, not that anyone could cage a diablos for long. While the guardian angle would support her teammates with her homemade amunitions, and occasionaly stun and tranquilize monsters, her brother, the unseen demon would unleash devastating explosive amunitions from his legendary bowgun, the island of the gods. Many hunters never finished the story, but those who did told of the irony that the diablos like demon's last fight, was in the desert, and it was with a huge diablos...

2 winters prior to Katamar's discovery, a team of four hunters searched the deserts for what the villagers called, Diablos, which the team assumed meant devil. Part of the team were the legendary duo themselves. The team entered an area ideal for the fight. There was a cliff high enough that the wyvern would be unable to reach, and another shorter cliff that went farther back into the canyon. The guardian angel scaled the higher cliff, as to protect herself while she unleashed her more subtle brand of pain, and her brother took the lower cliff, and loaded ammunition that he called clust rounds into the legendary gun.

The other two hunters, Grayburg and Odysseus, used a lance and a sword and sheild, respectively. The two blademasters placed an attractive looking piece of raw meat on the ground, and sounded their horns, in an attempt to attract the fearsome beast to their location. "How long is this going to take?" Odysseus complaned, while he sheathed and unsheathed his blue blade out of boredom.

The gunners, the target of the question, didn't answer, instead they let something else to the talking. The ground started to rumble, and rocks from the high canyon landed directly infront of Grayburg, who instinctively raised his oversized orange sheild, but the force of the boulders still were enough to send him flying backwards. Ironicaly enough, this saved his life, for where he stood a large trail, like that of a moles ended. The ground exploded at that point, sending debris everywhere.As the dust settled, the sight of a gargantuan creature filled the blademasters vision. The prehistoric creature stood at least fifty feet tall, and had skin remniscent of a rock. The creatures head was topped with two oversized horns, that shot out, then curved downward and leveled, as to make an effective ramming tool. He had to rock like wings that looked to heavy to fly, and his long, thick tail was tipped in a huge spined bulb, that was big enough for all four hunters to hide behind. The monster let out a deafening roar, forcing all four hunters to cover their ears in pain. The diablos had arrived, and phase one of the hunters plan was complete.

Phase two was killing the monster, which seemed vague to the blade users, but it ammused the unseen demon, who said that at every quest. This vagueness now seemed more dangerous than usual, for two gaping blademasters stood in awe of the thing that likely would lower the average life expectancy for hunters. The four hunters and the creature just stood there for a time comprable to eternity. Finaly, the Unseen Demon let out a rageful yell, and with a twisted smile, began unloading his gun into the creatures back. This snapped the others into action, and they began to attack the monster. Odysseus, with his blade that was known because of its unique ability to release water upon impact, attacked the beasts leg. Grayburg lunged his javelin into the creatures throat, however, instead of the blood bath he hoped for, he was met with sparkes, as his metalic blade clashed with the rock-like skin of the devil, which caused it to bounce off. Although Odysseus had a similar problem, the water seemed to hurt the beast enough to make up for the uselessnes of his blade.

The guardian angel constantly fired off her special "stun-rounds" into the creature, causing him to flinch, then become stiff, as the toxin took affect. The blademasters took advantage of this, and the unseen demon went wild with his "clusts." During this time, one of the beastly horns were destroyed, which caused adrenaline to flow through the monster, overpowering the toxins. The monster snapped back into action with a pained yell, then slowly turned towards the high cliff.

None of the hunters feared for the angel's safety, given that she was a good 30 feet above the monster. "I have an idea!" exclaimed Grayburg, "Let his horn get lodged into that cliff, then we could finish him off with ease." The other hunters nodded in agreement, and the creature, as if to agree to this plan, rammed the cliff, getting himself stuck.

"Good call, Grayburg!" called the Angel, moments before she was knocked off her feet by the shake of the wriggling monster. A look of horror took the place of that of triumph, as she noticed large cracks appearing in the cliff. She inched backwards, but to no use. The ground suddenly entered freefall, the angel with it. At that time the rabid Unseen Demon began to unload the most powerful variety of this "clust shots" and they lodge into the creature as Angel hit the monster's back hard. Barely conscious, she tried to dodge the debris above her, but it was irrelevant, as the rounds finally exploded, causing more rocks to fall, Both the creature and the huntress were dead.

"Stop it!" cried the blademasters to the unseen demon, who was still firing vengefully at the beast. When he realized what he had done, he sholdered his gun, and ran to her aid. But there was no point. the only visible thing was the creatures tail, that twitched wildly. The legendary duo was no more, all that remained was the Unseen Demon, useless without his twin sister.


	3. Desperate Times

Wolfbait prepared to grab his beer, when he noticed that it had multiplied. After trying to figure out which was the "real beer", the man lurched for the leftmost one, a clean miss. After a few more tries he finaly managed to grab the correct one, and within seconds he was ordering another.

"So that's him, that pathetic drunk?" asked a sturdy looking hunter, to his slightly smaller, but considerably more feirce looking friend.

"Of course it is, just look at the gun, its the island of the gods." the smaller one replied.

"We should grab him now, i have the warrants i need." said a third man, appearing from the shadows behind the other two. This man was not a hunter, but wore knight-like armor, obviously a militiaman.

"We could, but i'd just wait for the oaf to pass out, " said the sturdy hunter.

"Won't be long, and you can have him for whatever sort of punishment you have planned, " added the smaller one, " although, i'd take into consideration the good this man has done controlling out of control wyverns, and how much good he could do now we're at war."

"Point taken, and i wouldn't call it punishment, but more of a second chance." grinned the militiaman.

There was a thud, and everyone looked at an unconsious, skinny man, with scraggly long black hair laying partly on his tipped over stool, and partly on the floor. After a few seconds the exitement dropped, and the bar patrons went back to their drinks.

"Lets move!" saild the smaller hunter, as the three approached the body.

Katamar drew his hunter's knife, a weapon made more for self-defense than fighting, and rushed the formidable velocidrome. The beast gave a snarling yell as Katamar leaped into the air with his blade over his head. Moments from impact, time seemed to slow, almost stop. The yell gradualy became more low pitched, and the monster transformed into a much bigger form, that katamar felt familiar with, but couldn't recognize. As the two figures stood frozen, one inches away from slaying the other, Katamar felt his feeling of confidence drop, turning not into fear, but into an intense paining sorrow, everything in him said he shouldn't go through with the kill, but there was no turning back. His wife appeared to him in the distance, somehow not frozen, she smiled her beautiful smile, that normally melted him. However, the normal affect was brief, and as his wife faded, the confidence returned, but some dangerous sort of rage followed it, and before katamar could control it, time went back to normal, and he was drenched in blood. The creature started to come into focus, becoming even more recognizable, but still katamar couldnt figure out what it was. As he moved moved closer to examine the body, which seemed miles away for some reason, he was stopped in his tracks by a loud banging...

"I'll get it!" Kait said, as she approached the door, which was being banged on obnoxiously. Katamar shot up, a cold sweat drenching him, and burning his blood-shot eyes. Although Katamar had been sleeping for at least 2 hours longer than usual, he felt as if he'd been up for weeks, which is how long he'd been having that nightmare.

His wife returned to his room, with a letter from the new guild master. (the old guild master was killed by wild genprey while on his way to kokoto, and was replaced by a relative of the village cheif in katamar's town, and hero of kokoto.) "You think maybe they have work for you?" inquired his wife, "We've been living on next to nothing sinse this war started."

Katamar grunted, doubting his wifes over optimized theory. He went to his mirror, to wash the sweat out of his eyes before attempting to read the new master's horrible hand writing. After vision returned, he grabbed his beard out of habit. He always wondered why it wouldn't come in fully, a fact that his wife found more amusing everytime. "Don't worry about being ugly." she'd tease, " i still kinda like yer company." This never cheered katamar up, but the fact that she said it with that amazing smile made Katamar forget to care about the less beautiful things in the world.

Finaly Katamar got the nerve to open the letter, which as he predicted was not what Kait assumed. The letter said that war funding was more important than research, and that he was no longer needed untill further notice. It also stated that he would no longer receive any benefits from the guild.

"That's awful." Kait gasped at the news.

"Don't worry, i'll think of a way." katamar conforted, but unconvinced himself. There was no real way to make money in Minagarde any more... all there was farming, and being an heir. sinse his father was a broke monster hunter, and he didn't own land, neither of those options would work. The rest of the jobs were done by felynes, which would work for items that were cheaper than human-wage. "I'm gonna take a walk, clear my head and all.." Katamar said, when the panic and confusion finally began hurting his mind.

He walked to the guild hall, and although he wanted to drink, he promised Kait that he wouldn't do that again untill their son, Kyle, was married. Bored, Katamar decided to read the bulletin board to catch up on local news. Unfortunately, most of the bulletins were hunting contracts. However, katamar managed to find a few that contained interesting information, and he began to read them. "Notice: Due to the inefectively of current ores and other materials, and given the need of better war-time equipment, the previous ban on using items carved or rewarded on official quests for the making of weapons and armor has been removed until further notice, please note that this ban will be reinstated during the end of the current war, at which time all monster parts should be returned to the guild hall." another said "Notice: In an attempt to slow militarization, we have placed a ban on civilian made quests, hunters will only be permitted to take quests posted by the guild. Any civilians in need of hunters should report to the guild and place a requests. We are sorry for the inconvience."

"Inconvienence?!" Katamar growled. This was war, not some sort of ban on pipe smoking within thirty feet of a place of employment. Katamar hated the guild for that, trying to provoke the wyverns by treating hunting as casual employment, instead of mercanaries. And although the new guild master was doing his part to stop that, it seemed irreverseable, and besides, his unemployment gave Katamar new reasons to hate this guild master.

Katamar pondered this a while, sitting and staring at his peices of newspaper, when he noticed a quest contract. "Troublesome Pair" it said, and it requested the slaying of a rathalos and rathian that were spotted in the marsh lands. Katamar was about to put the discusting peice of paper away, when he noticed the reward money, and nearly fainted. He rushed over to the lady in charge of taking up contracts. "I want to go on this one!" He said,. Convinced he'd found the answer to his family's prolems, Katamar easily forgot his opinion of the war.

"You can't do this, you've gotta get a bit more prestige in this place, and besides, do you have the contract fee?" snickered the guild lady.

"No, no i don't, but what can i do?" Katamar said, while looking at the 10 zenny in his money pouch.

"Take an easier contract first, but i'd recomend getting a weapon." At his point, the lady was fighting off laughter.

Katamar grabbed a peice of paper, requesting the slaying of a jungle beast, with a low contract fee. "Hold this." he said. Then he left the hall, and went to speak with the village cheif. He only hoped that she would give him some sort of assistance in this new career possiblity.

She seemed worried when Katamar arrived, but his request seemed to change her mood. She seemed overly excited about his interest in hunting, and Katamar felt a shiver run down his spine. He saw no choice but to ignore it, and to take the 1500zenny that she offered him. With this Katamar left, and went to purchase a more formidable weapon from his friend Trevor, a somewhat shady blacksmith. Trevor had a nasty habit of being efficient, so he ended up with extra monster parts. Instead of returning them to his patrons, he would pocket them, and make illegit weapons. Katamar's new wealth was enough to buy one of these illegaly made weapons, a katana made of bone, called "wolf" by Trevor, who had dreams of impoving it, but was willing to let go for the 1000 z offered him.

"Don't you think you should spend the rest on a breast plate or sommin?" Trevor called to Katamar as he left. Katamar pretended not to hear him, he knew he couldn't afford armor if he wanted to be able to pay the contract fee, which he would have to borrow money to meet.

Katamar re-entered the guild hall. "I'll pay you the rest out of carves." he said, as he slid 500 z across the bar. And began to walk out the double hinged doors.

"What if you don't kill anything?" She cried.

"I will." Katamar replied, trying to sound as confident as possible. He approached a hot air baloon, which would take him to the river, and from there he'd have to catch a boat. Katamar figured he should be back within a week. He realized he forgot to say goodbye to his wife and son, but there was no going back., so he stepped up the ramp, and a duo of felynes hurriedly dropped the sand. With this, Katamar was off, and his first monster hunt awaited him.


	4. Moving Mountain of Sanctity

Her hand was tired, her head hurt, she hadn't slept, and she was painfully hungy. May felt however, that the task she took upon herself was more important than anything. She volunteered, a rash move out of vengence, to assemble and lead a strike team against a nigh unstoppable foe. Unfortunately, time was scarce, so the battle would take place close to home, meaning she needed only the best, to stop this legendary beast in its tracks. This wouldn't be easy, considering the size of the tracks he made.

"You alright?" her squire asked, peering in cautiously, as not to wake her if sleep finaly came.

"Just more cross-referencing, boring, uneventful, and not dangerous cross-referencing." she snapped. She went over list after list of hunters. She wished she could have done this a month ago, when there were only a few hunters in Minagarde. The recent boom made her job more difficult, but perhaps she'd get better results with the increased options. "I want this Wolfbait fellow, if he's around."

"I'll tell the militia man, it'll take a few men to round him up."

"I don't care, he's the best it seems, the Legendary Unseen Demon, if i recall my bedtime stories correctly."

"True, but he hasn't hunted in two winters."

"I don't care! I don't keep you around to question me, so get moving!" she screamed, finaly hitting her breaking point. Her squire was about to leave, when she noticed a familiar, yet suprising name on her list. "Katamar?" she inquired.

"Yes, he just signed up, apparently he's on his way back from his first quest, a great success." claimed the nervous squire.

"Hmmm... I've heard of his explorations, and he's certainly knowledgeable. I want you to send the militiaman and his team to keep up on his progress, if you think he's ready in time for the coming fight, then 'persuade' him to join our cause." she grinned, her mood suddenly better.

Her squire gave a nervous nod at her emphasis on the word, persuade, then he left. May continued to scan her list. Famous hunter, infamous hunter, novice hunter, etc. She then saw two names, near each other in rank, Grayburg and Odysseus. She fought back tears as she read their names, and the word deceased after them. She fought to forget the memory, but sleep overtook her duing the struggle, and thus the memories had free-reign in her head.

_Just days earlier..._

_"Why isn't Wolfbait here?" asked May, "I though yall were pals."_

_"We were, but that ended a couple winters ago," replied Grayburg, May's father._

_May let the conversation die at that, trying to avoid causing painful memories. After an awkward silence, a chubby felyne tapped Odysseus on the shoulder, then wispered to his ear._

_"Word is, the monster is in the marsh-lands, we've been told not to engage it yet, just get intel." Odysseus reported,, fidgetting with his blue blade as he did when he was bored._

_The team, made up of the three hunters and a couple felynes, continued silently in their hot air balloon over the fog covered feilds below, untill the feilds became marshes, and was made invisible by the thickening fog. The silence was broken when they began hearing crescendoing echoes. The thuds became louder, and louder, until they reached a deafening peek, at which point they stopped all together. The confused team looked over the edge of their balloon. It was no use, as the fog blinded them to anything below its sinister blockade._

_"Was that him?" asked May._

_"It's likelly. I wish this fog wasn't here; it makes me uneasy." replied Grayburg._

_"How do we report on something invisible to us?" asked Odysseus, rhetorically._

_As if to answer the question, the fog began to spread, as a titanic red figure, remniscent of stone, began to rise. The team looked, as the beast stood on its hind legs, back facing them. The mighty beast was easily as tall as the hotair baloon's altitude, and the team stood aghast at the monster._

_"It's... It's... its him..." mumbled Odysseus._

_"A moving mountain of sanctity..." Grayburg added, followed by the silence of the entire teams awe._

_This silence was broken by the creatures mightly roar. The team had no choice but to drop their equipment and cover their ears. The beast took this opportunity to begin turning slowly toward the humans, and their fur covered companions. By the time sound returned to the team, the monster was approaching the balloon at a steady pace._

_"Retreat!" ordered the fearful Odysseus. The felyne team began igniting the firest to increase altitlude, the quickest way to escape the behemoth's hostile intentions. As they rose, the monster approached. It became evident the closer he came, how tall he was, and how much higher they needed to fly to avoid death._

_"We're not goint to make it!" Grayburg cried, as the beast's shadow began to overtake the balloon. "We need to lower altitude if any of us are going to get out of this alive!"_

_It was too late, for the mountanous beast grunted, then snapped at the balloon with his razor-like teeth. The balloon could no longer hold hot air, and began to plummet. In response, the monster lunged toward the balloon on his way to the ground, The monster came mere feet from May's shocked form, but quick thinking Grayburg rushed to raise his shield in time to save his daugher. This move costed him his life. The monster's first few teeth wer chipped by the inpenetrable sheild, but the force knocked it out of Grayburg's grasp, and the creature seized the opportunity to pluck him from the falling balloon._

_The team struggled to stay on the aircraft, which was falling barely below freefall. The vehicle crashed into a jagged cliff, impalling the balloons cloth, leaving it hanging. May was knocked uncontious, and luckily managed to do so on the edge of the basket. Odysseus and the felynes weren't as fortunate. The two fell from the balloon upon collision with the cliff, and the three were dead upon impact with the ground._

_Startled May awoke, unmoved by her nightmare. She, like so many others, had managed to grow cold in the last few weeks of the war. She looked behind her, at Grayburg's javelin. She adopted the weapon in her father's memory, given she had no time to mourn with this creature approaching the capital. She never bothered to ask how the guild gatherers had managed to reach her, or find her father's beautiful lance. She didn't really care though, she knew how to weild his heavy weapon better than her own sword and sheild. After realizing she had been sidetracked, May went back to her urgent work, trying to find the 4th man, and perhaps a 3rd, if Katamar would not meet her expectations..._


	5. The Fourth

_"Two-hundred thousand zenny, and this baby's yours." said the shady shopkeeper._

_"Tell ya what, this desert's pretty hot, i'll give ya one-hundred thousand, and these here jugs of water." said Warren. Although he had plenty of money, Warren loved to haggle, and as he always said, you don't get my fortune by spending it._

_"Oh fine, I'll do it, but just cause I like ya." replied the shopkeeper, a total stranger to Warren. _

_Warren smiled as he walked away with his new prize. He knew good and well what it was, even if the ignorant shopkeeper didn't. As he arrived at the inn, he put his new gun, alonside his old factory made arbalest. He admired his new prize more for its historical value, but he would definately use it for its intented purpose when he found the right task. His shiney weapon was mostly covered in the silver scales of the dreaded rathalos, nicknamed sol by many, and a gold-scale fin protruded, made from rathian scales, nicknamed luna by locals. This was the gun that belonged to the Guardian Angel. The shop keeper had found it in a rock-slide, and was unaware of its power. Warren had dreamed his whole life of owning this gun, which was called Profusion, by its previous owner._

_Caught of guard while admiring his find, he almost fell over when he heard someone knock on his room's door._

_"This is him huh? The fourth one?" said a soft wisper from the otherside._

_Against his instincts, Warren opened the door. He was met by three men. Two of them were hunters, one larger than the other. The third was obviously a militiaman._

_"Can i help you?" questioned the confused Warren._

_"Yes, we need your assistance with a dangerous hunt. You in?" said the smaller hunter._

_"What if I'm not?" challenged the gunner._

_The large knight-like militiaman stepped forward. "You are." was all he said, before his large metalic fist raised up, and everything went black._


	6. No Turning Back

_The boat landed with ease along the jungle shores. Katamar had spent the day long ride practicing his new combat techniques. This was his first time using a weapon as large as "wolf," but the practice time made up for it. He reviewed his notes. "Jungle Menace" it was titled. Unfortunately, the requestor wasn't as educated as Katamar, and only had a crude description of the monster he was about to slay. "A big pink monster is in the jungle." it said, not bothering to specify species or anything else of use. Katamar would have laughed at it, if not for his need of the intel it lacked._

_"I s'pose it'd be the Yian Kutku." he said to himself. He looked over his large blade again, just to make sure it was battle worthy. The blade was brown, like an old bone, with jagged velociprey fangs fused along side its edge, in seemingly random fashion. After accidently drawing blood from the tip of his fingure, he decided the blade was sharp enough for the hopefully soon to come fight. Katamar left his camp-boat, and safety._

_After hours of tracking in the dense fortress of green that was the Minagarde jungle regions, he came upon his first big break. Barely visible beneath the undergrowth, a glint of pink could be seen. Unable to tell exactly what this remnant could be, Katamar attempted to retrieve it, only to be met by thorns that rivaled his blade's sharpness. He quickly withdrew, not yet accustomed to pain, and decided that he was on the right track._

_More hours went by, and although the sun was no where to be seen, Katamar still could feel its heat attempting to slam him to the ground. Katamar stopped to rest. He reached for his canteen, but it was empty, he remembered. After the sound of his own panting had died, Katamar heard a sound more beautiful than angels._

_"Water!" he cried. He dashed through the brush, disregarding the dangerous plant-life, towards the sound of the river. It was no time at all before he was on his knees, gleefully lapping up the rapid flowing water._

_After finally drinking his fill, and restoring his canteen, Katamar rose. It was at that time, he noticed another glint of pink across the water. Although it was as equally unidentifiable as his last clue, this was not just a clue. This pink was huge, and although Katamar couldn't figure out its species, he was sure this was the target he was assigned to kill._

_Katamar, did what he never did, he acted on impulse. Caught in the moment, Katamar rushed atop dangerously scarse stones, until he reached the other bank. Then he darted towards the beast, which heard his clumsy stepps with ease, and began darting through the forest himself. Katamar fought to keep up, regretting his rash move. Undergrowth was no problem for the tall beast to overcome, but it was like a fortress to puny Katamar._

_Katamar was about to give up, when he caught a break. The creature had instinctively ran toward its den, a cave that seemed familiar to Katamar. Katamar brushed of the dejavu, And entered the montrous mouth of the beasts dark cave._

_Katamar remembered an important tool, that he felt would come in handy. He quietly placed the stun-trap, a test item for his exploration weeks ago, under some leaves and pellets._

_After some time, Katamar realized that the beast wouldn't come to him. Katamar, in another ill-planned attempt, wandered into the darkness screaming wildly. He made out a large silhouette, which he took to be the beast. Katana drawn, he rushed blindly at the beast. Katamar lost his nerve however, as the huge shadow changed shape, then grew larger. The silhouette roared an almost human yell, as it rapidly approached the now fleeing human. Constantly looking over his shoulder, Katamar ran towards his clever trap._

_The monster let out another shocked roar as it tried to rear up, but was forced back down by stunning volts of electricity. The shadow twitched, but was unable to make any threatening movements. Katamar ran at the beast's side, slicing his left leg. In his pained fury, the beast escaped the trap, and leaped to the best of his ablity at Katamar, who rolled nimbly out of the way, and managed to slice the same leg again. The monster writhed in pain, unable to run. The monster, fully exposed now outside of the cave, was not a Kutku, but a rare babakonga. Katamar, just glad he had the upper hand, began charging the limping beast._

_Just before Katamar raised his blade, the beast turned its head. It's eyes seemed betrayed, and upon his grey snout was a large scar. Katamar felt his heart flee. This beast saved his life. Katamar could find no reason worthy of killing this beast, that despite starvation, chose to spare him. Then Katamar's focus changed. He thought of his wife and his son. In his paranoid thoughts, they were on the street, starving because he failed to provide food. They would be picked off by wild animals, unprotected by the shelter of a home._

_His heart returned to the battle, but it was cold and dark. Katamar, with tears in his eyes, plunged his blade into the skull of the beast. The monster screamed, pained and betrayed. Katamar answered its desperate call by removing the blade, then stabbing the beast again. This proccess continued well after the gorilla was limp, as Katamar focused angrily on his family's future._

_Katamar was correct, in that he'd return to his family within a week. However, this did not make him happy. He felt even though he was victorious, that the beast had still managed to kill him. He'd become another pawn in a war he blamed himself for creating, but he saw no other way._

_When his wife gave him her same irresistable smile, he faked one in response. He went back to his nightmares, only this time he could see the monster. A pleading babakonga with a scar on his nose._


	7. A Bright Future

Katamar's sheathed his katana, an advanced version of 'wolf', that Trevor called 'shark'. Katamar of course, had to retrieve the fangs of various piscine wyverns to assist in the completion of the weapon, and although it wasn't a dramatic improvement, Trevor said it would open up the door for future posibilities. As the once brown, now red with blood, blade entered its case, Katamar was already chasing his limping prey.

The rathalos was drenched in his own blood, although this was hard to see, given the creatures already brilliant red scales and plates. The monster was at one point covered in spikes and thorns, but 'shark' had demolished those fragile peices with ease. The beast was now trying to escape this madman and his blade, but he found it hard to move with the intense pain. Limping towards a clearing suitable for a retreat to the skies, the monster turned to make sure the hunter wasn't too close.

Katamar sprinted after the beast, and the distance between predator and prey decreased with every second. Katamar considered his options. He could go for what was left of the mostly removed tail, he could take out a wing, or he could go for the kill. Without thinking twice, Katamar chose the latter. Finally catching the monster, he ran past his wings and struggled to reach the beasts head.

"Almost there!" thought both the hunter and the beast. The rathalos turned his head leftwards, to see the tiring hunter attempt to catch it. He was almost towards a clearing, towards safety, and the assurance of survival. Only meters seperated him from guaranteed life, but the distance from death was much shorter.

The beast reached the clearing. After realizing that take off would be impossible while on the move, due to his mutilated wings. The creature had to slow down. After reaching a complete stop, the monster watched as the hunter began unsheathing his blade. In a last ditch effort, the wyvern began flapping his wings furiously. It worked. The wind pressure was to much for the hunter to handle, and he was forced back, sheilding his face with his forearm.

The monster began to leave the ground. He was confident in his safety, but just to make sure, he looked back at the hunter, now tens of meters below him. The human seemed to be placing what the monster recognized as a barrel-bomb. The rathalos screached his amusement at the concept of this deadly hunter thinking he would return.

SSsssspppprrrrsshhhhhhhhhhhhh...

The monster looked down at the strange noise. The barrel was moving towards him like a bullet. The confused and scared monster had no time to react, as the bomb nailed him in the chest, setting him off balance, then exploded.

Katamar had to sheild his face again from the wind of the wyvern's impact with the ground. The beast moaned, then attempted to stand up. Not seriously damaged from the fall, the monster began moving forward, in an attempt to gain distance from the hunter before he went airborne again. He was making good pace, and this time the exhausted hunter had a harder time catching him. The ignorant rathalos stepped toward what resemple a large circle of leaves. Not realizing the odd shape until it was too late, the monster stepped into the circle.

The frightened beast let out a surprised scream, as the ground gave out from beneath him, and he was trapped inside a man-made pitfall. The monster flapped uncontrolably, unable to even increase wind pressure do to his cramped position. Katamar no longer had to run after the beast. Calmly walking toward the creature, he pulled out his contract. "Dead or Alive" it said. Katamar knew the reward was greater if he took the monster in alive. He also knew that this involved the slaying of the monster in captivity, and likely removal of organs while it was still alive. Katamar decided to hold on to what was left of his humanity,

The beast looked up at him, not pleadingly like the babakonga weeks ago. The rathalos's eyes were feirce, full of hate for Katamar, and all of humanity. His scarred smile oozed smoke and blood, and random, tiny bursts of flame exited the corners of the monsters mouth.

"I'm doing you a favor. Trust me." said the evil man, who now was above the giants eye-level. The seemingly merciless madman withdrew his blade. The rathalos saw and felt the blade puncture his skull, then the his brain, as death took it's sweet time coming for the helpless monster.

Katamar pittied the creature, and plunged his blade deeper into the monsters head until its evil eyes were dark. There were no tears for this beast. This monster deserved to be torchered. It had abducted a small child from a family of farmers. When they found her, what was left of the body was completely incinerated. Katamar, however, wasn't prepared to give the beast his just desserts, but had no problem killing the monster quickly.

Katamar, now an avid collector of monster carves, both for their rarity and trophy-like value, and there usefullness in creating weapons and armor. The guild, trying to limit poaching, had limited carves for each species of monster. Katamar took his three carves, all of them collections of blood-red scales.

After returning to the Pokke chapter of the guild, he was treated to even more trophies, carved by his same rathalos, but this time by professional guild employees. He took the money stated as a reward, and also reminded the guild ladies to refund his contract fee. Katamar was on his way home, when he passed an interesting flyer.

"Home for sale in Urbanius! Cheap!" it said. An artist had painted a picture of the house, which looked to be easily three times the size of Katamar's current hut. Although the last few weeks had been dark for Katamar, things now were looking up for him and his family. A house in the capital city, he played with the thought. Better, safer jobs would flock to him. He'd give up huntng, and live hapily ever after in the most powerful city in Minegarde.

"Ma'am, we've determined the wyvern is heading east." the squire reported to May.

"Exactly where... not the capital, not Urbanius?" she replied.

"Unfortunately, we think so. However, I've taken it upon myself to order construction of a forttress. It'll be built in the pass that the monster will have to cross."

"That pass is dangerously close to the city, but i suppose there is no other way." she sighed. "Good work. You may leave now, but bring in the militiaman before you go."

The squire nodded, and left. Soon after, a towering man in knight-like armor entered the doorway.

"You needed me ma'am?" he inquired.

"Katamar has just successfully killed a rathalos, one dubbed gold crown by the guild. I think it's safe to say, he's our man." she answered.

The man gave a nod, and May could only imagin his sick smile, as he said "He will be... 'persuaded'."


	8. Loyalty

NOTE: was edited do to some unhappy readers...(not that i have many readers at all lol )

* * *

The high sun had already started its downward travels, as a normaly busy Urbanius began slowing its pace. Kyle carried his mentor's carves, a varied collection of parts from the rock-wyvern gravios, including a large part of his wing, and some of his tough skin, fused with valued minerals. Kyle, still young, struggled to carry the heavy boulder-like body parts. He almost wished he hadn't taking this apprenticeship so readily. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate his teacher, but he could have had a chance to work with his father.

Days after he left Pokke to Urbanius on his training, he recieved word that his father had joined the trade. Already a blossoming monster hunter, Kyle stayed with Mike, who already had became somewhat of a mentor. Kyle mostly just carried his luggage, but he'd managed to kill some smaller game, such as velociprey, and bullfango.

His caddy like chores usualy bored him to the point of depression. Today however, nothing could upset him. He had recieved a letter from his father, who had just purchased a house in Urbanius. Even better, was the fact that Mike lived close to this new house, and had already given him permission to stay with his parents.

After arriving at Mike's house, the sun had began to set, and another day was crossed of on Kyle's calendar. Kyle then went to wash the blood out of his clothes, and prepared to let sweet dreams of his homecoming visit him.

* * *

Katamar arose from his slumber, to an empty house. Once again his wife had beaten him to consiousness. Katamar was just glad to have a good night's rest. Although he sill had the nightmares, Katamar had grown more accustomed to them the more he hunted. Eventualy he didn't mind them at all, it was like dreams didn't exist for him anymore. 

"All our bags are packed, I think we'll make it to Urbanius by tomarrow. The day after at the latest." said his beautiful, smiling wife. No matter how cold Katamar became, that smile always managed to melt him.

More important to him today though, was his son. Katamar got letters from Mike often, telling of his student's bravery, and dedication. In the past, these were things Katamar never understood, but knew the importance of them anyways. Now a quickly rising monster hunter himself, Katamar was even more proud of his son, who far surpased himself in courage.

"I'm off to finish the payment!" Katamar hollered to Kait, who was feeding Edgar. "I'll be back withing the hour."

Katamar reached for his door handle, when he heard three knocks. He opened the door to see two hunters.

"Good'ay, fellas. Can I help you?" he asked.

"We've heard of your skills at killing wyverns, we'd like you to come with us." said the smaller hunter.

"Oh, I see. Ya'll are a bit late. I just bought a house in Urbanius, and I plan on dropping hunting altogether." replied the almost flattered Katamar. "I appreciate your visit, but I gotta lot of work to do today, and my wife wouldn't appreciate it if I just up and left with you folks."

"I think she'd prefer it, actually."

Katamar spun around to see a man in knight-like armor, standing in front of an open window, and holding an unconcious Kait in his arms.

"Why you..." Katamar trailed of. He rolled up his sleeve, and took a step forward when he was grabbed by two hands, one on each shoulder. They spun him around, and he was met by another hand in the shape of a fist, which made painful contact with his face. Katamar hit the ground, but not for long. From his lowered position, he rammed his shoulder into the larger hunter's gut, all the while rising to his feet. The effect sent the larger hunter fumbling backwards, untill his bulky body landed on its back.

* * *

Clanging away at Katamar's old sword, 'shark', Trevor attempted to improve it. Katamar announced his retirement, and gave the blade back to him, along with some useful fangs he could use to make it more deadly. 

"Beautiful!" he sighed, looking at his new blade, which he instantly named 'dragon'.

Trevor's admiration of the katana was cut short, as he heard what sounded like his pal shouting in rage. Trevor grabbed the nearest object, other than the precious sword, and darted out of his shop.

* * *

Two more hands, this time metalic, grabbed his shoulder. Katamar couldn't free himself, and the smaller hunter slowly made his way towards him. The man smirked, then raised his fist. 

CLANG!!!

The small hunter hit the floor, as Trevor stood over him, a dull fire-poker in his hands.

"Behind you Trev-" Katamar was cut of as the metalic hands slammed him to the ground.

Trevor turned around in an instant, and in one fluid motion sent the larger hunter back on the ground.

"Get Kait." Katamar mumbled, trying to regain the wind that was knocked out of him.

Katamar couldn't see if his blacksmith buddy had heard the message, or even if he'd seen the recovering larger hunter. Instead, he saw a large metal boot come towards his face, then... nothing...

* * *

Two days later, Kyle paced impatiently on his parents new porch. They should have been there, he constantly thought. Were they in trouble? What could have possibly happened on their way here? 

"Kyle! Bad knews!" shouted a large man, with an even large sword strapped to his back. It was Mike, and he didn't look terribly joyful.

"Is it my parents? What happened?"

"I don't know about your parents, but I have just been told that hunters within the city limits are being recruited to join the militia." explained Mike. "As a hunter, I am obligated to register."

"But, I need you. What if my parents are in trouble? How would I get to them?"

"Relax, you have the choice. You're to young be a registered hunter, so joining the militia is optional for you." replied Mike.

Faced with a dilemna, Kyle went back to pacing. He could join the militia and serve his town, and his mentor, or... he could try and find his parents. He remembered everything he'd been taught. He remembered reading a letter from his father telling about how much Mike bragged on him. "Bravery, and dedication" were the words. Dedication. The word echoed threw Kyle's mind. The echoes started turning into synonyms. Kyle picked one out. Loyalty. That was what it came down to.

"Were can I register?" said solemn Kyle, suddenly less childish. It was a rash move he thought, but he knew Katamar would be more proud of this than a futile search and rescue.


	9. Familiar Faces

The darkness began to fade, and the light of a warm fireplace took its place. The hearth almost caused Kait to forget she had no idea where she was. She craned her neck, try to get a glimpse of the room she was in. Swords, lances, shields, and even some plate armor lined the walls or was scattered unprofessionally. After a second glimpse, she noticed that the fireplace was actually a blazing inferno, with pieces of red hot metal jutting out of its blaze.

"You awake?" asked a voice from the darkness. A figure approached her, and entered the light of the fire.

"Trevor! Why am I here? Were's Katamar?" panicked Kait. She then noticed the pain on her forehead. She pressed her hand to the spot, and noticed the red that spotted it as she returned it. "And what on earth happened?:

"I'm not sure. Your hubby must have some good friends we're not aware of." replied the infuriated Trevor. Kait then noticed the bloody firepoker leaning against an anvil, and a bloody shirt, still recognizable as the blacksmiths.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, then added. "And more importantly, are you ok... am I ok?"

"You're fine, that militiaman just knocked you out. I, however, I don't think I'm gonna be as lucky." Trevor grunted, holding the darker spot on his black shirt.

"What are you talking about?"

"I was making a sword, and I heard Katamar. He was being held by a large militiaman, while a large hunter was flat, and a small hunter was preparing to nail Katamar. I got 'im good with that poker over there. The big 'un got up, and I flattened him. I spun around to help yer hubby, but he was out cold. So I jabbed the poker at the militiaman, and he just sidestepped. He backhanded me, and I hit the ground. He then started walking for you. So I jumped on his back."

"That's... that's horrible. Why was he after us, and how did you stop him?" asked the horrified Kai.

"I'm not sure why, and I didn't stop him. He just shook me off, and as I tried to run at him again, he ran me through with my own poker. Lucky you, the town alarm was sounded, as people realized what was happening. The three guys ran, not wanting to be slowed down by you." he explained.

"We have to get you home." she said. " and I need to get to Kyle, what if they go after him?"

"Go get Kyle, and as for me, I wouldn't last half the journey. Please, just tell my family I love them, I can rest peacefully knowing they know." said Trevor, now struggling to take every breath.

"But... but.. I.." she mumbled. Looking at the wound, she knew he was right, but she couldn't admit it to herself.

"Don't argue, Kait. Just do it, and find your son, before it's too late." he countered.

"I will..." she whispered, as she rose. She then approached the door.

"Wait..one more thing..." said Trevor, pointing to 'dragon.' "Take that to Katamar, it's his now. Just tell him I want the militiaman's blood on it."

Kait followed suit silently, and then she was gone. She knew Trevor would be dead soon, but she couldn't afford to stay behind. She had a long way to Urbanius, the home of Trevor's family, and her own son.

* * *

The man Warren was staring at had dark skin. His hair was even darker, and was in large unkept strands that twisted and knotted from his scalp to his chest. The man was obviously tall, even though he was sitting, and he was unhealthily scrawny.

"Who on earth are you?" he finally asked, after days of just staring.

"They call me, Wolfbait. At least that's what they call me now." said the ugly man.

"Ah. I see then." said uneasy Warren, who now wanted to end the conversation more than add to it. Warren could kinda tell, now that he knew. The picture in his head was two years outdated, but he had no trouble believing the man to be Wolfbait, better known to him as the Legendary Unseen Demon.

Warren now hoped more than anything that the legendary madman failed to notice his silver gun behind the armed guards on the other side of the iron bars. He felt hopeless, trapped in a cage with a man known for his rage, and he happened to own his dead sister's gun.

"That yer gun o'er there?" asked Wolfbait, letting his dark hair cover his downward staring face.

"Err... that gun.. Yeah... I think so, can't be sure, it's kinda far away, but you know.. You know I got that gun from a church, yeah, a church. They gave it's divinitiness to me as a trophy for rescuing orphans from a fire." the frightened gunner tried to lie. He felt he was taking his last breaths, and he knew that lame lie wasn't going to prolong his fate.

The ugly man stood, proving Warren an accurate judge of height. He paced forward slowly toward Warren, stopping a few feet away.

"Well, it's nice." said Wolfbait, a sick, twisted grin forming below his malevolent eyes.

Warren prepared to start a false string of fake flattered comments, when he realized that the man's intentions were not innocent.

"You inconsiderate fool!" cried Wolfbait as he reached out his hand. It embraced Warren's throat, and then the two went to the wall. Warren looked down at Wolfbait's eyes, a feet that would be hard if he wasn't being lifted by his throat. They were filled with rage and anguish. They radiated sorrow, but Warren could tell that mercy was not present.

"Guards!" he gasped, "help!"

Wolfbait just stood there, squeezing the throat of the helpless gunner high above his head. The barred gate sprung open, and two armed guards rushed to Warren's aid.

"Drop him! Drop him now!"cried one panicking guard.

"Try to be a little nicer, this guys dangerous." mumbled the other guard.

"You kidding, we both have lances, what's he got?" replied the first, but in a much louder voice.

Wolfbait turned his head. His stern face regained the sick smile, and he dropped Warren. The first guard now wasn't as confident. Wolfbait lunged at the second guard, who attempted to raise his large shield. It didn't work, the rabid Demon was too fast, and too strong for the sheild. He swung it aside and tackled the guard. Placing his hands on the unprotected part of the guards throat, Wolfbait began to squeeze, with no intent of letting up.

The scene didn't last long, as gasping Warren watched the first guard shield-bash Wolfbait to the ground, then continually bash him in the head with the hilt of his lance until the crazed Unseen Demon was finally unconscious.

The guards looked at him like he was lucky to be alive, then dragged the unconscious lunatic out of the cell, leaving him alone.

Warren was glad to have the cell by himself, almost as glad as he was to have air in his lungs still. His glee was short-lived however, as the two hunters that Warren had "met" at the inn earlier came with a third man in their arms.

"Gotta new pal for ya." said the smaller hunter, who had a bandage on his head. The two then threw the unconscious third into the cell, and after closing the gate, were gone.

Warren, afraid that he'd been caged in with another killer, went to check out the man. Although he had a broken nose, and a shoe shaped bruise on his face, Warren recognized the man. He was a pretty famous explorer named Katamar.


	10. Vendeta

The sight was familiar to Katamar, but he'd never seen it. His wife lay unconscious in her kitchen, and his best friend lay impaled along his wall. He was helpless to help. Two hands grabbed his, and drug him across the floor. All Katamar could do was look in horror at the grisly sight, but he was sure he would kill this militiaman someday.

His anger turned to surprise, as he was hit by a cold splash of murky yellow water. Startled and cold, the man awoke in an unfamiliar room. Most obvious was the young women with a dripping bucket. Her eyes were tired, and much older than the rest of her. She was wearing green armor, which Katamar guessed to be made from the deadly rathian's scales.

"You finally awake?"she asked.

Katamar didn't answer, as he continued to examine his new surroundings. Behind her left side, sat a man on a bench. The man was average height, and looked very stressed. Katamar was somewhat sure he was the famous bourgeois hunter, a talented, rich gunner named Warren. Katamar looked behind him. He was caged in by black metal bars. It seemed he was in a jail cell.

"Katamar?" prodded the girl again.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"You're in a fortified place on the outskirts of Urbanius. My militiaman brought you here."

Militiaman. Katamar entertained the word. The man from his nightmare was a militiaman. Then it all came back to him. He remembered the knock at the door, the hunters, his unconscious wife, and the large metal boot. Confused, Katamar frantically scanned the room again. No easy means of escape, and the woman was armed with a rapier and a small side arm pistol. His eyes were constantly drawn to the pistol, and finaly, Katamar made a plan.

"You sure it's a good idea to leave these two prisoners unchained?" asked an armed guard outside of the cell, who had a brace on his neck.

"Katamar isn't a violent man, and Warren here is too smart to try something." she answered, turning her head to face the guard.

Katamar took advantage of the opportunity. He promptly leapt towards the women, and in one gesture spun her around and relieved her of the side-arm, which he then pressed below her right ear.

"Back off!" he yelled to the approaching guards. The women was correct, Katamar wasn't violent, but at this moment, he was desperate. His wife could be in danger, and who knew about his son.

"Where's my wife?" he whispered into the ear opposite the pistol.

"Your wife? How should I know?" she gulped.

"You sent the militiaman for us! What happened to her?"

The girl was truly ignorant, but Katamar wouldn't settle for nothing.

"If you can't tell me where she is, then tell me where the militiaman is!" he commanded.

"Look, I hired the militiaman cause he's an excellent tracker. His past is shady. I don't even know where he lives!" she panicked, not so much for her life, but the danger the "not-violent" hunter was putting Urbanius in. "We're wasting time Katamar. Just put the gun down, and I'll try to explain things better."

Katamar toyed with the idea, then pressed the gun harder to her neck. "I think I want things explained with the gun where it is!"

"Look, I'm sorry I sent the militiaman, but he's the best!"

"You're sorry?"

"Yes. I know what he's capable of, but you're presence here is more important than your wife." she attempted to explain.

"More important than my wife?! I bet it's more important than my son, too. And Trevor?"

"Yes! Yes it is. Just put the gun down."

Katamar humored the option again, this time it seemed more convincing. This woman didn't seem to know more than what she was telling, despite how little that was.

"I'll let you go, along with yer gun. Just promise that your guards won't jump me, and that after I do whatever it is you need, I'll get unopposed access to this militiaman." Katamar bartered, not expecting to receive either demand, but seeing no way out of the predicament he so foolishly put himself in.

"Okay, just promise your in on what I ask of you." she agreed.

Katamar could feel the strange authority coming from the women, who still had the gun to her neck. This helped to reassure him of the innocents of her intentions. Still somewhat uneasy, Katamar holstered the side-arm along the waist of it's owner, and backed away from his prisoner.

To his great surprise, the women walked to the door between the iron bars, then turned to face the defeated Katamar, and the noticeably panicking Warren, and raised her hand in a beckoning gesture. The two hunters, the latter noticeable wary of the former, rose and followed the woman.

* * *

Sarai, baby in her arms, went to answer the door. Hopefully it would be her husband Trevor, he was a day late, and she was worrying. The person at the door unfortunately wasn't Trevor, but still a friendly face. 

"Kait! So nice to see you, been a while." smiled Sarai.

Kait, who's beautiful smile was always present, didn't look at all gleeful.

"I have some bad news." she sighed. "We should sit down." Kait related her tragic tale to the weeping wife.

"We're barely making it as is. How are we going to make it without Trevor." cried Sarai, after the shock of her husband's death had began to pass.

Kait struggled for an answer, but she couldn't come up with one. She wanted to promise that her and her husband would be able to help, but she was uncertain on how she would fare without him.

"I have to go, now." said Kait, "I'll try and help as much as I can." With that, she left the weeping baby and the panicking mother.

She had to find her husband if anything was going to work out. She had already checked their new house, and Mike's house. She didn't find Katamar, Kyle, or even Mike. The only place she could think of to check was the local guild hall. Most people could find what they wanted there, and at the very least, a wanted poster could be put up.

She entered the smoke-filled room. Music played uncomfortably loud, and gleeful hunters chatted amongst each other and with the guild ladies, which doubled as bartenders. She looked at one table in particular. Two hunters, a large one and a small one, sipped their beers. Nothing unusual, except that they seemed to be trying not to see her. She decided they would be the best place to start for answers.

"Hello, fellas. You seem to know a bit more 'bout me than I know about you. Care to talk?" she smirked.

"We're not in the mood to talk, now bug off!" replied the smaller hunter.

Kait glared mercilessly into his eyes. Without warning she grabbed the carving knife of a nearby hunter who was too drunk to notice. She then rammed the table, tipping it and the drinks on to the baffled two hunters. The small hunter was trying to keep his balance, when he was tackled by the enraged woman. Kait placed the cold knife point down on his adam's apple

The other hunter recovered from the confusion, and drew his blade to help. The pinned hunter quickly shook his head to warn his larger friend not to attempt a rescue.

"You're going to tell me where to find my husband." ordered Kait. The small hunter nodded carefully, to avoid an unpleasant accident.

* * *

"You're insane!" shouted a large hunter with an even larger great sword strapped to his back. "Don't you think he's just a bit too young for the front lines?" 

Haman grinned beneath his knight-like helmet, as he toyed with the concept of his sanity. Over the years many people had said similar words, yet he always managed to be hired. Haman liked to overlook his own powerful political pull, and his intimidating nature, and just assume he was the right man for every job.

One such job was the retrieval of the boy in question's father. He was told not to kill anyone unless they posed a threat. The boy's mother had came at him with a knife, he was sure, and his two companions said they saw it too. However, she was unable to be taken in time, and therefore she knew too much about his cruel methods. Haman felt hopeless at the time, but now he felt he could exact his revenge in a much more efficient manner.

"The boy goes to the front lines, and because you're so worried, you can join him." replied the cruel militiaman, Haman.

The man grumbled, and him and the boy rejoined their ranks. Kyle still had a lot of training to do if he was going to be ready, and even Mike wasn't comfortable with his new position. They were supposed to train to fight something that human kind had never even heard of. But Mike wasn't a man to question authority, and he and the boy joined their ranks.

* * *

"I'll hold on to it, ma'am, no promises though." said a fortunately friendly guard. 

"That's all I can ask of you I suppose, but do try to make sure he gets it, and the note aa well." replied Kait. With that she handed over the bone katana and a note she took time to write. She left, the hope of Trevor's wishes being fulfilled with her. She emerged from the deceptively pitiful shack, that was the entrance to the newly constructed fortress on the outskirts of town.

She was unsure if the remoteness of it was just for convenience, or to keep the townspeople in the dark on the coming danger, which she just recently learned from her two conveniently talkative "friends" she picked up at the guild hall. Of course, she lacked the foresight at the moment to keep them around, but she was still confident in her success.

Kait held her carving knife like a security-blanket as she made her way through the empty streets under the coming darkness of twilight. She would stay at her new, unoccupied home, until she received word from her husband, or was visited by thieves, whichever would happen first.

* * *

Wolfbait entered the uncomfortably large council room, made for twenty, but currently contained no more than ten. The other three hunters, May, Warren, Katamar, and a few felyne researchers stared at the sad man. He was in shackles, and was escorted by two armed guards, who seemed too afraid to do anything about an escape attempt if the occasion arose. 

"Have a seat Wolfbait. We can begin now that you're here." said tired-eyed May upon his arrival.

"We want to know what we need to kill, that'll do it." said Warren, who was noticeably inching away from the shackled Wolfbait.

"Well, the monster as my father would've put it, is a moving mountain." she explained. "We humans, and even felyne have never even heard of it."

"However we do know the name, nya!" exclaimed on of the furry researchers.

"This much is true, but irrelevant However to sooth your curiosity, I will explain." said May. "Although felynes hadn't heard of the giant wyvern, they quickly sent their own out on an information gathering quest. For this we owe them many thanks. They discovered that the beast was in fact sent by the wyverns, a discovery that finalized our species' decision to declare war. The felynes claim that the beast is an ancient wyvern, known by the others as Lao Shan Lung."

"So if this thing's so dangerous, how are us four going to kill it?" asked Katamar.

"Kill it. To our knowledge, there is no way to kill the beast. We hope to repel Lao Shan Lung, and discourage any return." she corrected.

"And you expect us four to be able to accomplish this task?" chimed in Warren.

"No, of course not, all hunters in Urbanius have been recruited to our militia. They however, are your subordinates now." she explained. "You three were selected by myself to assist in protecting the main gate. I chose you because you all have unrivaled knowledge at your art, which I plan on utilizing to the fullest."

"Well, I spose it could work." said Warren.

"Did you say all of the hunters were recruited?" asked a worried Katamar. "Even an apprentice perhaps?"

May frowned, and explained. "Yes, your son is indeed with us, but by his own choice, not ours." This was the truth, but May left out that her sadistic tracker, Haman, had placed him in the most dangerous unit on the front lines.

"Bravery and dedication." Katamar mumbled to himself. He was crushed by the news, but he still swelled with pride.

"Oh, I almost forgot, this came for you." said May, trying her best to lighten the mood. She pulled out a long sac, and slid it across the oak table to Katamar.

Katamar peered in side, to see a sheath and what appeared to be 'shark'. He pulled it out in the middle of the meeting, and examined the blade. He was sure it was not 'shark', but it seemed like the same blade. He then examined the note. It was a couple inches long, and was folded in half. On the outside, it said 'dragon'. That must have been the name Trevor gave the beautiful blade.

Katamar opened the folded paper. The words that were written were chilling, but decidedly convenient. "Want militiaman's blood" it said. Katamar was unsure who's wish this was, but it fit perfectly into his plan anyhow.

"So, what rank will the militiaman be in?" he asked, a vengeful grin taking over his once sad face.

* * *

Mike stood, fully clad in his beautiful silver armor. It was made from the scales of the rare silver rathalos. It even had almost unrelieved-to-exist rathalos rubies melded with each piece. 

"Okay, men. It appears I am in charge of this unit." he yelled. He was answered by a hundred gossiping "soldiers" rushing to attention, and raising their hands in salute.

"We are to hold the beast off long enough for the 'special' folks by the gate to finish prepping for the big bad beastie." grinned Mike under his shimmering helm. "The only thing special about them is their IQ I spose, sinse they can't handle the front-lines."

He was met by thunderous laughter. It was a good start. He needed his men to like him, but more importantly he needed them to relax. Mike just hoped he could keep Kyle out of harm, and that the miniature stone walls set up every kilometer or so could hold the coming threat long enough for the hunters at the gate.

Mike dreaded the time that they would have to rush to their positions. He was thankful for every second that went by without seeing this "Moving Mountain." Therefore, he was more than upset when a pebble fell from the high gray canyon wall, bouncing off his helmet.

Shortly following the pebble, larger rocks fell, and the ground started to shake. A loud crack came from the support of a scaffold, which contained a handful of gunners hoping to take advantage of elevation. The scaffold gave way, unsupportable by the quaking ground, and the hunters fell tens of meters to the ground, or if less lucky, splintered boards.

"To your positions!" ordered Mike. The soldiers scattered, trying unsuccessfully to look professional. Mike stood alongside his apprentice atop the first rock wall in the long pass. The two stood alone, staring into the unmoving mist. Then, much to their horror, the mist moved, making visible a large red, evil-eyed mountain. Lao Shan Lung had arrived.


	11. March for the Heroes

The straps holding the enormous green and brown sword broke, as Mike too hastily withdrew the blade. Kyle, who was using a smaller blade as well as a shield, had a similar problem. Neither hunter was worried about the financial outcomes of their haste at the moment. This was due to the fact that a large wyvern the size of a mountain was only meters away from their post on a now-fragile-feeling rock wall.

"You think out blades will do anything to it." asked Kyle, who really didn't want the truth.

"The guild wouldn't have put us here if not." Mike lied. He knew he and his apprentice were just an elaborate diversion to prolong the attack on the main gate. He was told that some "unusual" hunters were posted there, and were to prepare the defenses for the monster to arrive. This seemed like a good plan to Mike, minus the fact it meant that the beast would make it to the gate.

The monster approached, but he took time to nip and ram any scrambling hunters or scaffolds that were in his way. Frantic hunters tried to scurry up the ladder to Mike's position. Kyle rushed to their need, putting out his hand. The hunters were both gunners, and attempted to climb from harm single-file. The upper hunter grabbed the young apprentice's outstretched arm, as the supports for the ladder snapped below him. His companion fell, an easily survivable distance. The hunter recovered, and peered up hopelessly at the three on the top of the wall. He noticed a look of fear pass their faces, as they looked straight above him. He turned to try and see the cause of the fear. He instantly regretted the move, for he found himself only a meter from the monstrous Lao Shan Lung's snout.

The hunter felt alone, as if the battle around him didn't exist. He just stared into the giant evil yellow eyes, shielded by huge red plates. From the beast's nostrils came a blast of warm air, almost throwing the stunned hunter of balance. The imaginary silence seemed to gradually crescendo into the roar of bowgun fire and pained screams. The two stood facing each other, until the the monstrous jaws opened and lurched forward, instantly impaling the unfortunate hunter upon his fangs. Lao Shan Lung then tossed his head around a bit, as if to try and get the meal off his teeth and into his throat.

The luckier gunner's shock was replaced with rage, and he quickly snapped out of his daze. He pulled out his gun, which mike judged to be an arbalest, and began unloading various ammunitions into the beast's skull. The monster didn't even flinch. Instead he began angling his approach more toward the enraged gunner, who just happened to be standing next to young Kyle. Mike noticed this, but it seemed to late. He was sure that he wouldn't make it to the other end of the wall in time, but he knew he had to try.

Kyle's blade was prepared for a strike. He just hoped the monster would come a few inches closer, and then meet the pain of his sword.

"Move!" yelled Mike, who hoped his warning wasn't too late.

Kyle couldn't quite make out the words due to the noise, but Mike was gesturing violently. He turned around to see the gunner still at his firing, and the monster's head reared back. The gunner didn't seem to care about the unusal stance of the beast. The head then starting rushing forward, staying low to the ground. Mike made his move. He was the same distance from Kyle now as the beast, so he made a daring dive. Kyle felt a intense, painful thud in his side, and then his head, as he hit stone, and lay staring up into the fog. He rose and noticed that the wall where he was standing, and the gunner standing with him, was no-more. Instead there was a rocky, and blood smeared gap. He looked next to himself, and noticed a recovering Mike, whose leg happened to be under a rather large piece of debris. The other leg was bent into an unnatural position, and his once silver armor was splotched with red.

"You okay?" asked Mike.

"Am I okay? Look at you!" gasped Kyle. After he'd realized the danger he avoided, he added."Why'd you do that?"

"Your my responsibility, Kyle."

Kyle attempted to respond, but couldn't overcome his sorrow. Instead, tears started streaming from his eyes.

"Quit crying! This is something you'll have to get used to." commanded Mike."Besides, I'm gonna live."

Kyle looked in the direction Mike was now facing, as two scurrying felyne were trying to figure out a good method to cross the gap, which now was filled with the head of the slow moving giant.

"They'll be here, don't worry. Just get back to doing your job." replied Mike, in answer to the question Kyle was about to ask.

Kyle, who was like Mike in the fact he didn't like to question authority, obeyed, and leaped down from the wall, to the side that the monster was facing. He sprinted as fast as possible, even though he was sure the beast was taking his time. About half way to the second stone wall, Kyle entered a door-sized hole in the canyon wall. He followed a tunnel until he reached a dimly lit room, complete with beds and various useful weaponry. Kyle reached over a sleeping(at least Kyle hoped) soldier, and went for a large blue box. Inside the box were numerous small barrels with fuses. Kyle grabbed a few, then went for two large barrels full of gunpowder that were next to the box.

Kyle struggled to get the barrels over the prostrate soldier, but eventually succeeded. The rest of the way to the battle was a downhill slope through the tunnel, so Kyle tipped the barrels and let them roll. He chased after them, barely able to keep up. Eventually the dim light from outside started shining through, and Kyle knew he was almost outside, and it appeared he had beaten Lao Shan Lung. His victory didn't last long, as the dim light stopped, and Kyle almost stumbled into a wall due to a thunderous thud. It didn't take long to realize the monster had beaten him to the tunnel entrance. His original plan to place bombs on top of the cliff and cave in the canyon was obviously doomed now, but Kyle quickly devised another clever strategy.

Haman did his best to look calm in front of his troops, but the monster had already destroyed three walls, and was now approaching the fourth. The only thing that made this worse, was that the only accessable exit within a few kilometers was only a few meters away from the thick front-right leg of the beast. Haman barked mostly ignored orders to his legion of gunners to stay steady. Understandable so, they were a bit anxious, and most of their shots were direct hits at the ground.

One of the gunners, who was no more calm than the others, managed to land a lucky hit on the front-left knee. The knee was already bruised, and the armor somewhat shattered by some skillful blows from Haman's hammer. The gunners piercing ammo easily made it to bone, and the monster bellowed as he stopped himself from falling.

The short-lived glimpse of hope died, as the monster started to recover almost instantly. However, his recovery was interrupted by a soft rumbling sound, audible only to the giant. The confusion was made clear to all, as two large wooden cylinders barreled their way out of the cave-like entrance. The large kegs tumbled into the nearest leg, and wobbled to a stop. The calamity and chaos of the battle stopped, as every soul payed a puzzled look to the two large barrels. Most confused was the monster himself, who was still slightly bent at his left knee.

The silence was interrupted by soft echoing hiss. The subtle sound became less abstract, as it grew louder, and obviously closer. After all traces of the echo were gone, and the only sound remaining was that of a crackling fuse, a much smaller barrel made its way out of the entrance.

Haman glared, as the sparking barrel was followed by a young boy, frantically running from the mess that he was about to create. The monster, who was shocked at the young one's boldness, prepared to attack. Kyle payed no mind, convinced that his little ploy was more deadly than the great Lao Shan Lung. Fortunately, this payed off, as the monsters oncoming attack was shattered by a deafening boom. Kyle was forced to the ground, but he instinctively turned on his back to notice the beast lurching backward on its hind legs.

The monstrous mountain gave a tortured roar, as it came back down, its legs too weak to catch his girth. The beast lay flat, twitching as it attempted to regain its position. This was made difficult, as newly brave blademasters seized their opportunity, and gunners put the extra time into making and loading their best munitions. The blades went for the gut, to avoid being devoured by the still snapping jaws, which the impressive ammo of the gunners were being lodged into.

A thunderous crack was heard, as the gigantic horn of the humbled monster fell from its root on the beast's snout. Pain and adrenaline shot through every muscle of his body, and the beast felt itself instinctively jerk up. The now terrified blademasters ran for their lives as the monster began to regain its position.

Kyle's spirits instantly fell. The monster was now approaching the last wall before the fortress, and it seemed he was uncontainable. Lao Shan Lung approached the boy, the only thing standing between him and the wall. Kyle knew he had no chance, but he couldn't sacrifice his city to save himself, so he prepared for his last fight and hoped that lady luck would step in.

Kyle's stare-down was stopped, as he noticed some small debris falling around him. As the monster stepped again, Kyle looked up to see a large boulder, part of an abandoned trap, slip from its position and begin falling straight toward him. The adrenaline of what Kyle thought was his last few seconds made it seem like minutes. The boulder, and the monster's teeth were both only a meter away from the stunned boy's skull, as a lighting fast hammer-head collided with the rock, shattering it. Before following-through, the head also collided with the humongous nose of the monster, making him flinch a little.

Kyle, now not on his adrenaline high, looked around confused. He saw Lao Shan Lung attempt to sneeze out the blood now obstructing his breathing, and a large man in knight-like armor trying to dig his massive hammer out of the crater it created. Kyle noticed the monster recover from its nasal pain, and he tried to grab Haman, who was still trying to grab his hammer.

"Master Haman has stated that all soldiers retreat to behind the fort, and that you especially are taken to safety!" said a small voice, matching a pair of small felyne hands that almost tripped Kyle as he tried to rescue his commander. This was the only time in Kyle's life that he ever considered questioning authority. He felt that he should save this man that risked his life to save him, even though to Kyle the man seemed insane. However, a consideration was all it was, as Kyle, the felyne, and many others turned and ran for the exit.

Kyle noticed that some unfortunate soldiers were launched out of the canyon by the cedar-like tail of the beast as the attempted to flee. Kyle tried to focus on the exit, and not the disaster that once was supposed to be a battle. Upon reaching the mouth of the cave-like entrance, he heard the familiar sound of collapsing supports and exploding rock. Kyle couldn't resist a quick turn of his head, but he wished he could have. He noticed that Lao Shan Lung was making his way through yet another gash in a too-fragile stone wall, and that the last chance for the survival of the citizens was about to be tested, prepared or not. But what troubled him the most was that he didn't see Haman. All he saw was a hammer-head, which was lodged into the dirt, and was snapped at the handle, and what appeared to be the remains of a fiercesome knight-like helmet.

"How are those ballistas coming along?!" shouted May from inside the storage room atop the fortress.

Katamar, who had volunteered to venture all the way to the bottom of the amazingly huge gate to retrieve a crucial piece that a felyne worker had dropped, reached down and grabbed a piece of metal and wood and then looked up. "Now that I got this, I think we can get these things working." he said, and then began the exhausting ladder climb to the top.

May nodded, then surveyed her team. They all seemed rather upset, with the exception of Katamar, who looked almost glad, but in a sick sort of way that made her stomach crawl. Wolfbait was himself. He wobbled atop the fort, carrying a hefty cannonball, but not daring to show the slightest emotion with his face. May could only tell he was ticked by the jerkiness of his movements. Warren understandably tried to avoid Wolfbait, and opted to work on constructing the ballistas.

As May was rationing the powder for the newly-installed cannons, she heard the worst possible noise. From the distance, she could hear a loud horn, signaling that the beast was approaching, and worse, that the others had met defeat. Katamar heard this too, and he struggled to climb to the top. Only three rungs away from the top, he looked up. To his delight, Wolfbait was kneeling, hand extended. Katamar grabbed it gladly, and shortly after the whole world seemed to shake. After recovering, Katamar and the others stared west, facing the thick fog that hid the mouth of the narrow rocky pass.

The earth shook again. The hunters still saw nothing. Another shake. Nothing. Then, at the peak of the next earth-shaking rumble, the hunters noticed the slightest off coloration in the fog. Although the threat was still unrecognizable, its scales tinted the fog red for what seemed to the gasping hunters miles.

The monster moved again, and so did the earth. The four looked at each other. Any doubt, dislike, or distrust was cast aside, as all of them realized that what they were against was the single most dangerous threat to all of humanity. The tides of the extermination-like war had changed in only a few hours, and all four knew that this would be the last an decisive battle...


	12. The Last and Decisive Battle

Kait let out a sigh as a glass of water fell from her table, shattering on the floor. Not going to let this of all things bother her, she simply filled another, and sat at her new table, the only piece of furniture her and her husband had been able to move before their "guests" showed up. Urbanius was a dangerous place for lone women, but on this day, she feared it was much more dangerous for men. She tried not to picture whatever sort of conflict was happening outside of the city. It was unfathomable for something so far away to cause tremors in her home, but as expected, her drink fell once more, adding to a growing pile of wet and shattered glass on her uncarpeted floor.

* * *

"One ballista up!" cried Katamar, as he watched a felyne worker finish tightening the last bolt. 

"Then man it, for peet's sake!" replied May, who was on the recieving end of a cannonball carrying 'assembly line,' in which she was required to adjust powder and ignite the fuse to produce the most accurate shot. Being that they weren't finished, the cannon's were all but unaimable, being useful only in dire and upclose situations. Unfortunately, this was one of those situations.

Katamar made his way to the ballista, struggling to carry as much ammo as possible, and skirting a loose cannonball that a felyne 'line' worker dropped, likely due to the tremors of the beast's most casual footsteps.

Kerchunk!

The monster winced in pain, but his stride was nearly unbroken, as the first of Katamar's ballista munitions entered its upper torso.

Kerchunk...Kerchunk...Kerchunk...

Katamar continued his firing, causing the monster immense pain, but doing no good in slowing the giant. Eventually, he knew the beast would come close enough, at which point Katamar would let the monster taste 'dragon,' but until then, the artilary was the only hope for him or May to do any good.

Wolfbait and Warren had the luxury of familiarity with this type of battle. The two expert gunners put aside their differences as soon as they saw the threat, and the Unseen Demon, and the angelic gun weilding Warren did what they did best. They blasted the most powerful of munitions into the skull of Lao Shan Lung as often and quickly as possible, all the while being untouchable.

Warren toyed with this concept. He was almost invincible it seemed, but yet this was the most danger he'd ever been in. The confusion and inconsistancy brought a smile to his face, giving him something to think about other than the mountanous version of apocalypse a kilometer away.

Clachik. Another special dose of explosive pain was loaded into the Island of the Gods, as Wolfbait with his insane grin raised it at the beast, with the intention of needing to reload soon. The legendary gun emited three explosions, each of which was echoed by a series of smaller explosions in the direction of the monster. The deafening sounds were followed by the next click of reloading, and the madman began the cycle again.

Allongside these loud booms cried the low whistle of Warren's high-velocity peircing shots, a seemingly enless volley of pain, but still not enough to slow the mountainous threat. Each of these whistles and explosions were dwarfed by the booming cannon. May and her felyne workers tirelessly loaded cannonball after cannonball in yet another unsuccessful attempt to down, or even slow the oncoming monstrocity.

Thud after thud, after heart-sinking thud, the incredible Lao Shan Lung neared the fort. Although his pain was intense, he restrained his flinching reflex and trudged forward into the onslaught of fire. All four of the humans fired away at him, all trembling, but all of them bold. These four were the only obstacle in his way, and the monster almost felt as if it wouldn't be easy. However, this battle was the epitome of what both parties had been created, so Lao Shan Lung continued his unslowing approach, lowering to all fours as he began to draw near the fortress gate.

"He's within range, and better yet, he's on all fours!" yelled Katamar, just running out of amuntion for his now useless ballista. "Permission to drop down?"

"Permission granted. I'm coming with you though!" replied May, also nearing the end of her supply of cannonballs. With that both parties decended the rope ladder to the faraway mud below, as both Warren and Wolfbait upped their rate of fire, in a temporary ploy to distract the monster from the vulmerable blademasters.

Both of the hunters landed safely, thanks to the enraging affects of the volley of explosions the gunners created. Being careful not to be heard until it was too late, both the lancer and swordsman made their timid approach towards the awesome beast. Even on all fours, the monster seemed to tower above them, but his head was still within reach for both blades. The evil yellow eyes focused upward toward the barrage of gunfire, as the two hunters made their way towards them. Only a few meters away, the eyes refocused to the beast's right, as Katamar took a not-to-subtle step into a murky brown puddle of mud.

Before the swordsman could react, the gargantuan red skull lashed out at him, only to be recoiled by an even quicker thinking May's sheild. Although Katamar was spared, the force sent May to her back, a position which was hard to recover from given her over-sized lance and sheild. It was Katamar's turn to react. As the quickly recovering monster turned his head at the downed easy target, Katamar unsheathed his bone katana and rushed the huge red head. The monster's peripheral betrayed him, as just before making his strike at May, the rushing swordsman caught his eye, causing his focus to fade. Katamar took advantage of this short opportunity, raising his blade high above his head, and bringing it down with all the force and weight he could muster. The result was a thing of grim beauty, as blood poured from a clean, albeit somewhat shallow cut to the beast's brow.

The monster yelped, and decided to ignore the gunners, focusing his power at the troublesome blademasters, who were now both on their feet, ready to strike again. Lao Shan Lung decided to use his size to his advantage, lowering his right side down toward the hunters, then pushing with all his strength from the left, the result being a large battering ram, surely fatal to anything in its path. May his behind her oversized shield, sending her unharmed several meters back. Katamar made a last second dive, narrowly avoiding the fast moving legs and landing safely under the high neck.

The mountanous monster easily recovered from its attack, and refocused on Katamar, now at his left. Just before making an almost certainly fatal strike, the great Lao Shan Lung saw, no, he felt his mistake, a painful jab at his jaw coming from his right. The monster grunted out of pain, and at his own lack of foresight as he realized he managed to get himself surrounded. Confused, the monster shook his head violently, trying unsuccessfully to hit one of the agile hunters.

The tides had turned, as both blademasters were able to damage the beast without even being scratched, and the two bowgunners unleashd devistating ammo on his back. But whatever advantage they had seemed minimal, as the mountain still refused to collapse. With the hunters on the upper hand, but still not winning, the battle raged on.

* * *

"You might want want to come over here." said the medic, gesturing to Kyle, who stood trembling amist the casualties in the base camp. Kyle followed suit silently, going to a makeshift stretcher that the medic had pointed to. As Kyle approached, he lifted the cover only to see a scrawny tiny man with somewhat long black hair. The man stared through Kyle, oblivious to his surroundings, convinced he was still in battle. 

"Who is this?" Kyle asked, confused.

"Oh, that's Frederick." He said, almost amused."But that's the man I wanted you to see!" he added, pointing to a rather bulky figure, sitting on a bench wearing horribly damaged silver, knight-like armor. The large man seemed exhausted, resing his head in his dented gaunlets. He didn't have a helmet with him, or even a weapon, and if Kyle could tell, he had lost his dignity as well.

"Haman?" inquired Kyle, then quickly corrected. "Sir?"

The man didn't say anthing, but instead grunted, as he raised his head. Kyle had never seen his face before. His black hair was thrown in random directions, and in bulky chunks stuck to his face, glued by dried blood. His face seemed to be frozen into a frown, and was bruised from battle, but Kyle could tell he was a handsome man before this mess started.

"Then you wanted to see me?" Kyle prodded, not sure why he was here.

"I... I need to apologize for what I've done to you, and your mentor." sighed Haman, trying to avoid lowering his head again. "I put you both on the front lines to for unchivalrous reasons."

Kyle at first was taken aback, but then he remembered Mike. Anger flooded through him, and curiosity overwhelmed his subordinate mentality. "What are you talking about! You mean that there's no good reason why Mike, if he even survives, will never walk again?!" he shouted.

"I'm sorry... but no. I made a mistake, one that I've learned from, but can't ever take back." he continued.

"What did you do?!" shouted Kyle, all acknowledgement of authority now gone.

"My team was injured by your father and his friend. I was angry, and I let it put you two in danger." he explained.

"Why?" was all that Kyle could muster. He was unsure now on who to be angry at. Surely his own father didn't attack a general. But perhaps there was more to it than that.

"It was my own twisted interpretation of orders, on which I got what I had coming. I kidnapped your father, but he and his friend resisted, and I couldn't take out the damage on them, so I took the chance to take it out on you." finished Haman.

"How could you?!" gasped Kyle. He didn't know what damage was done, or who this friend was, or even his fate, but Kyle was sure his father was innocent now, but he couldn't decide on Haman. "It's over now, but why kidnap Katamar?" he finally asked.

"He was needed for an elite task force to defend the final part of the pass. Of course, no one expected Lao Shan Lung to be this strong,.I doubt they'll be any more successful than us. Looks like I'm responsible for the end of his life, too." grunted Haman. He lowered his head back to his gauntlets. What he did was irredeemable, but he still hoped for forgiveness.

Kyle was unsure. He couldn't just let this go unpunished, but the man had also saved his life, and many others over the course of his life. Kyle just turned his head, trying not to watch Haman torture himself over his deeds. Haman's head shot up quickly, a slight glint of hope accross his face.

"Give me your sword!" he ordered. "It's an order, as well as staying put."

Kyle relunctantly obeyed, but still dared to question it. "What's this about?!"

"I'm going to make this right. I'm going to protect your father, as well as the others that shared his misfortune." he said as he left. Kyle began to go behind him, only to be grabbed by a hunter with a bandage on his forehead, the same one that pulled him out of the battlefeild.

* * *

The monster faught to ignore the blades, and lowered himself once again. The blades kept slashing, and the gunners blasting, hoping to stop the monster's move. They were unsuccessful. In a mountanous red flash, the beast threw his weight against the gate. Both blademasters successfully avoided the assault, but the gunners both felt the shock. Warren simply stumbled backwards, misfiring harmlessly into the sky. Wolfbait wasn't as lucky, and was knocked off the forttress to a flat half-way mark on the ladder. Not even flinching from the pain of the broken leg, Wolfbait scooted backwards into a corner, trying to maintain distance, but still stay in firing range. 

The monster followed up this success with a devastating tail swipe to May. She quickly raised her huge sheild, but it easily yeilded to the force of the tree-sized tail tip, and May flew into the far canyon wall.

Katamar couldn't tell if she was alive or dead, but he wasted no time in unleashing a devastating combonation of quick slashes with his sharp katana, being assisted by a flurry of gunfire from above. The monster bellowed, actually caught off guard by the hunters' rageful attacks. But as always, the beast recovered, but he was noticably less motivated, seeing the possibility of failure.

Although their effective numbers had halved, the hunter's now fought harder than ever, victory in sight. Warren unleashed his devastating peircing amunition into the skull of the beast, cracking the thick armor-like scales. The beast yelped again, but noticing the feirce Katamar with sword drawn approaching, the beast neglected to attack, and instead rose. Katamar raised his hands in an attempted downswing, but the huge beast proved to agile, raising his body to the air before Katamar could unleash this attack.

The great L:ao Shan Lung stood on his hind legs, keeping his vulnerable head away from the enraged swordsman. Katamar struggled for a target, the only obvious place was the legs, but they were dangerously close to the beast's feircesome tail. He had managed to avoid that huge battering tail for this long, so Katamar, without thinking twice, darted to the beast's knees and began slicing.

Warren began to inch back, trying without much luck to reload his gun while trembling uncontrolably at the beast, which now towered above him. Finally, the shells snapped into place, and the trembling gunner closed raised his gun to the head of the beast. Upon doing this, he noticed the beast had reared his head back, preparing to strike.

Boom! The beast's attack was interupted by a powerful explosion, which trickled into a series of smaller ones that scattered his face. Warren followed the origin of the attack, to a smoking gun in the hands of the legendary unseen demon.

"Unseen Demon, indeed." Warren grinned, then proceded to unload his gun into the head of the staggered beast. The monster canceled his assault on Warren, and instead rammed the wall to his right. Wolfbait was able to dodge the beast, but the force let loose debris from above him, and the Demon was unconscious in seconds.

Katamar also was forced to dodge this attack, but unlike Wolfbait, he had no rubble to deal with, and easily avoided damage. He continued his assault on the beast's legs. Crimson flew in every direction, as bits of scale, and even blood were removed forcefully by the sharp edge of 'dragon'. The monster roared in pain, both from Warren's now more confident assault, and Katamar's wrathful swinging.

In retaliation, the beast whipped his tail around his legs in an attempt to hit the swordsman. The nimble hunter was able to dodge, but he was forced to get a bit too close to the legs. The beast took advantage of this, and attempted to stomp the hunter. Katamar rolled out of the way of the tremendous foot, but the force of the wind pressure created upon its touching the ground was too much, and the hunter flew several meters away. Katamar tried to rejoin the fight, but he was dizzy, and could barely stand.

The great mountanous monster took advantage of the moment, not to attack Katamar, but his feirce gunning ally. Warren's beautiful Profusion was jammed, and he was more than distracted as the mountain began approaching once more.

"Got it!" exclaimed Warren, as he managed to finaly remove a stuck shell from the barrel. He reloaded his gun, and looked up. It was too late. Warren managed to fire one shot into the mouth of the beast. In pain the monster shut his mouth, too soon for Warren to be eaten, but the raw force of the impact from his snout tossed the helpless hunter like a toy into the back wall of the upper fortress.

Warren faught to regain mobility, but his body felt numb. He realized he must have been in shock, but there was nothing he could do. The monster noticed this too, and opened his mouth to finish the downed gunner. Warren looked up in defiance at the beast, and prepared to fire his gun until his dying breath. He didn't have to, as just before the monster's teeth reached the gunner, a pair of dented metalic hands dragged Warren out of reach.  
The startled gunner looked behind him, and saw a huge dark-haired man, in tarnished and incomplete knight-like armor.

"You?!" gasped Warren, before passing out, both from the damage, and from utter surprise to be alive.

Haman, lay the hunter gently down, then returned to the center-top of the fortress to examine the battle, and confront the monster. At first he noticed the monster had changed direction. Second, he realized that both Wolfbait, and his commander, May, were laying unconscious, and he could only hope that they lived. Third, he noticed the reason for the beasts direction change.

Katamar had recovered from his first daze, but after trying to attack the knee again, the beast "kicked" him, sending him flying backward again. Haman saw him, struggling to stand. That hit wouldn't have phased a normal hunter, but Haman knew that Katamar refused to spend money on armor, and instead chose to feed his family. Haman knew he had to act quick if he were to save the man, and his own self-worth.

The militiaman knew there was no way to climb down and protect the hunter. Defense was not an option, so Haman decided the only way was to destroy the beast before it reached Katamar. Without thinking, Haman lept from the top of the fortress, onto the beasts upper back. The monster didn't even notice the huge man, who was scaling his back, in an attempt to reach the towering head.

Katamar looked up at his impending demise. The evil red face glared down at him, and his mouth parted in what almost seemed an evil grin. Then Katamar noticed something else. A demolished metalic hand shot up from behing the monsters skull, and grabbed on of his small red thorns. Then, following the the hand, another metalic hand shot up, this one holding a sword, and then stabbed downward into a crack in the scales caused by bowgun fire.

Lao Shan Lung roared in pain, and after trying unsuccessfully to find the source of the pain, began to thrash about wildly. Haman held his ground, and wiggled the blade, causing as much damage as possible. Finally, the beast's pain was too much, and he fell to all fours. The sudden drop was too much for Haman, and he hit the dirt, but the damage was already done.

The monster was shivering in his pain. His vision blurred, and his movements were unsteady. The horrible hunter must have hit the beast's brain, so he decided the only chance of survival was to retreat. He scanned the pass, looking for an unguarded exit. He wouldn't dare go the way he came, those soldiers may actually win in his current state. Luckily, through his distorted vision, he noticed a smaller pass adjacent to the way he entered. He stumbled his way through at the fastest pace possible, taking advantage of the recovering militiaman and katana wielder. With a serious of almost random quakes, the great Lao Shan Lung disappeared into the fog.

Kyle rushed at full pace, hoping to reach the battleground before his persuers caught him, or Haman suffered a terrible fate. The pursuers, the hunters that had tried unsuccessfuly to keep him from Haman, were growing tired, and were only able to follow the boy because they knew his destination. Finaly, after jumping an unconscious gunner, Kyle reached the fortress, which overlooked the mountain pass.

At first, Kyle's heart swelled as he noticed that the fort was indeed there, and the monster was not. Second, he was releived to see at the bottom of the fort, both his father and Haman alive. The latter aproached the former, which was prostrate, but obviously alive. Kyle readied a first-aid kit he stole before his breakout, and prepared to descend.

"Need a hand?" said the bulky, yet handsome man in the tarnished knight-like armor.

Not recognizing the man, confused Katamar let him help. "Thanks, I 'spose I owe you one."

"Not at all, if anything, you have the right to hate me." replied the militiaman.

Katamar readied a confused reply, until he realized who he was speaking to. The hunter's eyes widened in disgust, then narrowed in a fierce glare. He had sworn that this man must die, and he wasn't prepared to make an exception. Almost in response to Katamar's facial expressions, Haman's eyes bulged, and he began gasping.

"Father!" Kyle cried, not able to think of anything else.

Katamar didn't look up, or even hear his son's plea. He removed his dripping red blade from the fading militiaman. Haman dropped to his knees, still gasping for air, as valuable life flowed from his wound like sands in an hourglass. The militiaman's face begged for mercy, but he was too weak to form such words.

At this, the ruthless Katamar gripped his sword in two hands, and raised it back as if it were an axe. The enraged hunter channelled his hate into the blade, as he drew back even farther. Upon the appropriate time for the release of the energy, which should have been a clean decapitating slice, two small hands grabbed Katamar's wrist, and yanked backward with suprising force.

After landing on his back, the startled Katamar looked up to see his son glaring at him. A betrayed expression passed his face, but quickly transformed into a hatred that rivaled his own. Kyle easily removed the blade from his father's hands, and raised it. However the boy was far from prepared to take another man's life, and instead hurled it, and walked away.

Katamar looked up to see the militiaman still kneeling, still bleeding, still gasping, and still dying. Kyle stood next to him, making sure to keep his back to his father.

"I'm.. I'm sorry, Kyle... I didn't mean-" apologized Katamar.

Kyle didn't answer, instead he just walked past the man he once called father, and never bothered to look back. Katamar stood there with the dying militiaman until death finaly answered Haman's plea.

Looking around the battlefield, Katamar was forced to restrain his gag reflex. His superior lay against a rock wall, and both gunners were unconscious. Another superior, Haman, lay dead at his feet, a bleeding 'dragon' sized hole in his chest. The only man standing was Katamar. Sure they had repelled the wyvern's most powerful ally, and possibly sealed victory in this war, but this war was based on one man's prejudice. Could such a thing realy be called victory?

Worse, he had killed another human, and ally in this horrible war. Worse yet, this man had saved him, saved the city, and out of pure rage, Katamar had killed him. Because of this, he was dead to his son. He could only hope for Kyle's success, but he'd never be there to see it. Could he realy be considered a hero?

With his thoughts, his guilt, and his haunting deeds, the once harmless, peaceful explorer left the demolished battlefield. Katamar knew there would be no turning back.

The end...


	13. Epilogue: 20 years gone by

**MAY**

May died almost instantly after being hit by Lao Shan Lung's tail. With her died the lineage of the Iron Knights, a legendary order said to seek the secrets of dragon-riding. Grayburg's javelin was posted in the Great Guild Hall, with the label "Iron Knight's Pike." The display also contained a plaque, which told of May's heroism, as recounted by Katamar.

**WOLFBAIT**

Wolfbait survived the great battle. His broken leg healed, although never to its original condition. Despite his weakness, Wolfbait continued questing with Katamar, untill his untimely death in the vulcanic region, in which he and his legendary gun were burried in lava, becoming part of the landscape. The guild released a gun called Demonlocke, named after the legendary hunter. Although weaker than the Island of the Gods, the powerful gun was used by Wolfbaits son, who died alongside his father. A guild display was set up next to that of May, in it there is a replica of the original Island of the Gods, a pardon for past criminal activities, and a plaque recounting his deeds as told by Warren.

**WARREN**

Warren, after nearly a year, made a full recovery from the great battle. He continued to use his legendary profusion for decades to come. Nearly ten years after the great battle, the guild requested Warren to test out a powerful new weapon. The weapon was simply called, Gun-lance Prototype, and was able to release a super heated explosion from its sharp tip. Warren made good use of the weapon, but still stuck by his legendary gun as a sign of loyalty to Wolfbait. Warren still lives today, however he has retired from hunting, and now is a collector of weapons. Next to Wolfbait's, Warrens display features the gunlance, given he refused to give up the profusion, and it was all but unreplicable. His plaque tells of his heroism as told by Katamar and himself.

**MIKE**

Mike survived the battle, but was paralyzed for life. He took up smithing, and later mentored another young lad. Although this boy was not a hunter by trade, Mike taught him in both smithing and hunting, making him the epitome of efficiency. The boy's name was Trevor Junior, and is a famous smith to this day. Mike died of old age seventeen years after the great battle. All guild masters from around Minegarde attended the funeral, as well as Kyle, Junior, Sarai, and Kait. Katamar was sent an anonymous letter saying not to come. Although his display is in a lesser guild hall, Mike is remembered as a fearless leader, great hunter, and thoughtful teacher. His ode was based of facts from both Junior and Kyle.

**HAMAN**

Haman was given a mundane funeral, in an attempt to dumb down the connection between he and the guild. Katamar protested this, and he was given the largest display in the great guild hall. Kyle's original sword, as well as Haman's broken hammer were both displayed alongside his knight-like armor. His story gives him credit for the victory, and is told mainly by Katamar, with some input by Warren and Kyle.

**KATAMAR**

Katamar attempted to give up hunting, however he failed. Drawn by adrenaline, Katamar returned to the trade. His display featured 'dragon', but it was removed at the request of Katamar, for use in his hunting. Katamar lived a successful life with his beautiful wife Kait, who was never told the full story of Haman's death. The couple also were more than able to support both themselves, but Trevor's family as well. After receiveing an anonymous letter on the day of Mike's funeral, Katamar travelled to inner Urbanius at the location on the letter. Katamar was killed in an allyway by an unseen assasin. There was a fight however, and the only evidence was a gun disguised as a black parasol. The guild was questioned after discovery that the letter contained a guild seal. The guild denies any involvement, or even the existance of the gun. Katamar willed his blade, which Junior upgraded, calling it the 'supremacy blade', to his son, Kyle. Attending Katamar's funeral were Junior, Sarai, Kait, Warren, every guild master and village cheif, and even Kyle. Kyle wept for days. Katamar's display is next to Warren's, and contains a replica of 'dragon', the name of the blade used in the great battle. His story is told by himself, as well as Warren, and Kait.

**KYLE**

Kyle never spoke to his father again. Kyle attended Mike's funeral with the intention of forgiving Katamar, but Katamar didn't show up. Kyle soon after recieved news of his death, as well as 'supremacy' and a large some of money. Kyle became a very successful hunter, surpassing his father and even Mike. To this day he uses 'supremacy' soley. Although Kyle isn't considered a hero of the great battle, he is honored in Kokoto as slayer of the feircesome monoblos. After his father's death, Kyle vowed to figure out the reason for the murder, and is now in possesion of the parasol. The journey has had no leads in the last three years, but he continues his quest today. Kyle traveled back to Urbanius upon hearing news of Kushadora. By the time he arrived, a group of hunters had already slain it. Among them was Junior, a freind of Kyle's. Kyle also attended the celebration for the heroes, and the memorial for the Guild Master, who died in the attack.**  
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End file.
